Thursday, November 5, 2009

While yesterday's "glitch" was more annoying than anything else, it again sheds light on how Metro seems to operate reactively, not proactively. This is, we've argued repeatedly, because of three problems: poor management, lack of money and no oversight body (and here) that can force Metro to take prudent action BEFORE there's a crisis.

Yesterday's communications meltdown was caused by a 27-year-old power distribution unit that failed. There is no redundant system. According to the Washington Post, it will cost $14 million to repair, so pile that onto the already looming $22 million budget deficit.

"It was something old. It was something that had been previously identified as needing to be upgraded. It was on the list. Unfortunately it failed before we were able to address it."

Since this appears to be déjà vu week on this blog, you may recall that Metro knew there were potential problems with the automatic train control system--a problem identified and fixed by the Bay Area Rapid Transit System in the 1970s--yet WMATA failed to take any action until after the June 22 crash, and the new system is only now being tested.

This morning was a nightmare. A train was offloaded at Judiciary, causing a domino effect of hundreds of people overcrowding the next trains. I exited at Gallery Place and wasn't able to walk the platform toward the exit for 10 minutes because of the crush of people. Two trains went by, and were not able to offload all of their passengers because the platform was so crowded. The station managers said they couldn't do anything and were "calling transit to come and look into it." Gah.

I spoke with a transit cop about the responsibility of station managers. Station Managers help with the farecard machines, make sure the lavatories are clean, troubleshoot SmartTrip cards and keep an eye out for fare evaders, and occasionally give directions, period. They only do "crowd control" with specific instruction and direction. They have Transit Cops on speed dial because they're only observers, not active participants.

Post a Comment

We need YOU!

Our best posts are from you!

Over 700,000 of you take Metro every day. Whether it's a simple tweet from the front lines, a funny photo or story or something more substantial, tell us. Got an idea of something we should do? Let us know. More than half of this blog has been written by riders just like you.